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Re: /etc/debian_version for Etch



Paul E Condon wrote:
> Jochen Schulz wrote:
> > Jerome BENOIT:
> > > I have just migrate to Etch, and I have a naive question.
> > > My current /etc/debian_version file still contains "3.1",
> > > which is valid release for Sarge:
> > > 1] what must /etc/debian_version contain for an Etch box ?
> > This is not yet decided, I think. The file is part of the package
> > base-files and will be updated if there is a consesus on the version
> > number for etch.

The number is at this time not decided.  It is picked by the release
manager for the release.  At this time I do not believe a release
number for Etch has been announced.

> > > 2] does it really matter ?
> > 
> > No. The file is just there to help scripts find out the version
> > currently installed but I am not aware of any important things depending
> > on it.

Agreed.

> This seems to me to be a very un-Debian state of affairs. Is there a bug
> report about this? Is it help to a script to give a manifestly wrong 
> answer to such a straightforward question?

There is no bug there.  And to me it seems very Debian.  What problem
does this cause?

Meanwhile if you look in unstable you will see that a new base-files
has been uploaded.  "[2005-06-06] Accepted 3.1.3" with a changelog
that says:

   * Changed issue, issue.net and debian_release to "testing/unstable".
     Not that this is a lot useful, but at least is what people expect.

The new base-files package will go through the same process as any
other package and will eventually migrate to testing.  Right now the
package is "Too young, only 1 of 5 days old" in the status and not yet
built on all of the architectures yet.

  http://packages.qa.debian.org/b/base-files.html

Also, this by itself does not make a machine Sarge.  For example, if
you have a Sarge base-files but point sources.list to Sid and install
a zillion new shared libraries and binaries but avoid upgrading
base-files then the machine is now considered to be a Sid machine even
though base-files still would say 3.1.

Bob

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